Annunciator



J. W. POPE.

ANNUNCIATOR. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 19,1919- RENEWED JUN E 22,1921-1,4O4,542 Patented Jan. 24, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1- WI T/VESSES- J. W. POPE.

ANNUNCIATOR. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 19,1919. RENEWED JUNE 22,1921.

1,404,542. Patented Jan. 24, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2 ii I ii A? g: l" I y i i 4 I 411:; f :1

5 v :2 1 l E5 r- E 25 4/363 v6 i/ a u u fig 7 WITNESSES INVENTOH ATTORNEYS J. W. POPE.

ANNUNCIATOR.

APPLICATION FILED NOV 19, 19:9. RENEWED JUNE 22.1921.

' 1,404,542. Patented Jan. 24,1922.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

INVENTO/i ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN WESLEY POPE, 0F MEMIBHIS, TENNESSEE.

ANNUNCIATOR.

Application filed November 19, 1919, Serial No. 339,058. Renewed June22, 1921.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN IVESLEY Porn, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of Memphis, in the countyof Shelby and State of Tennessee, have made certain new and usefulImprovements in Annunciators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improvement in annunciators, and has for its objectto provide adevice of the character specified especially adapted for usewith the fare-collecting device forming the subject matter of mycopending application, Serial No. 327 ,896,

filed October 2, 1919, for announcing approaching street intersections,wherein the annunciator is controlled to announce the next streetintersection by the movement of the turn stile to permit the exit of apassenger at the preceding stop, and wherein mechanism is provided underthe control of the motorman for operating the annunciator in dependentlyf the movement of the turn stile.

In the drawings Figure l is a horizontal section showing a part of a carprovided with the one man fare collecting and controlling system;

Figure 2 is a vertical section through the car showing the turn stileand annunciator;

Figure 3 is a horizontal section through the annunciator casing;

Figure 4 is a vertical section through the annunciator casing at rightangles to Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a plan view of the gear shift mechanism, controlled by theclosing of the door,

Figure 6 is a partial horizontal section of the car, showing gearcontrolling mechanism for open end cars.

The present embodiment of the invention is shown in connection with acar 1 of any usual or desired construction, the said car having frontand rear doors, one of which is indicated at 2, and these doorsareopened by a controller 3 secured to a shaft 4 mounted at the front ofthe car, in convenient position for engagement by the motorman.

An'elbow lever 5 is pivoted at 6 between the door and the controller andone arm of the lever is connected by a link 7 with the doors, to openthe same. The other arm is connected by a link 8'with a radial arm 9 onthe shaft 4. It will be evident that by means of the controller thedoors may be opened and closed.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 24, 1922.

Serial no. 479,704.

A rod 10 is mounted to move longitudi" nally of the car near the sidehaving the door 2, and this rod is connected by a link 11 with that armof the elbow lever 5 to which the link 8 is connected. Thus, when thecontroller is operated'to open the door, the rod 10 will be moved in onedirection and when the controller is operated to close the door, the rodwill be moved in the opposite direction. This rod controls the door atthe opposite end of the car through a similar mechanism to that shown atthe front door, and not necessary further to describe.

The annunciator comprises a suitable casing 12 arranged in any suitableposition, as for instance, at the front of the car, and above the turnstile indicated at 13, and a vertical shaft 14 operated by the turnstile extends upwardly to the annunciator and controls the movement ofthe same.

This shaft 14 at its upper end extends into the casing 12 and isprovided with a bevel gear 15, which meshes with asimilar gear 16 on ashaft 17 journalled longitudinally of the casing. This shaft 17 carriesa bevel gear 18 which meshes with a similar gear 18 on a shaft 19, whichis connected with the winding rollers 20 and 23 of the strip 21, whichcarries the street intersections to be announced in a manner to bepresently described. The strip 21 passes over direction elements 24:,which are arranged above and below the opening 25 in the annunciatorcasing through which the indications on the strip appear.

It will be evident from the description that whenever the shaft 1a isrotated by a departingpassenger the winding rollers 20 and 23 will berotated to displace that indication which is at the opening 25, and tobring into display position another indication, namely, that of the nextintersecting street. In order to compensate for the dif ferent speed inmovement of the winding rollers, due to the greater amount of strip onone roller or reel than upon the other, the mechanism shown at the leftin Fig. 4 is provided.

A rod 26 is engaged with each end of the shaft of one of the rollers 2%,in the present instance the lower roller, the said rod having a bearing27 for engaging the endof the shaft, and the rod is mounted to slide ina casing 28 held in the casing 12.

A coil spring 29 encircles the rod withln the casing, being arrangedbetween a. stop pin on the rod and the end of the casing remote from theroller .the spring acting normally to press the roller away from the.

winding rollers. Thus the difference in speed between the rollers willbe compensated for. A source of illumination 31, in the present instancean electric light, is placed behind that portion of the strip which isdisplayed at theopening 25.

It is obvious that it will frequently happen that more than onepassenger will leave the car at the same time, and hence that the turnstile will be advanced more than enough to operate the annunciator'tomove the strip a distance between two indications. Hence mechanism isprovided for disconnecting the turn stile from the annunciator after ithas moved far enough to advance the strip the requireddistance, that is,after the passage of one passenger. The said mechanism is shown moreparticularly in Figs. 3, 4 and 5.

The shaft 17 before mentioned is movable longitudinally in its hearings,to disengage the gear 16 from the gear 15, and it is controlled in itslongitudinal movement by a pin 32, on the gear wheel 15, which engagesthe gear 16 at a predetermined point in the rotation of the gear 15, tomove the shaft 17 longitudinally away from the casing 12, and

to disengage the gears 15 and 16. This pin 19 is so arranged that itwill disengage the gears 15 and 16 at the moment when a new indicationis displayed at the opening 25. The gear 16 is restored to its properposition with respect to the gear 15 by the closing of the door. Asshown in Figs. 1 and5, a bell crank 33 pivoted adjacent to the rod 10,has one arm connected with the shaft 17 in such manner that while theshaft may rotate freely with respect to the arm, the shaft must be movedlongitudinally when the arm is swung on its pivotal connection. Theother arm of the bell crank is adapted to be engaged by a pin 37 on therod 10.

The bell crank 33 is connected to the shaft 17 in such manner that theshaft 17 may rotate freely with respect to the bell crank, but may bemoved longitudinally by the swinging of the bell crank. When the gears15 and 16 are in mesh, the bell crank 33 is out of position to beengaged by the pin 37, so that the doors may be opened or closed withoutinterfering with the bell crank, that is, they may be opened or closedbetween stops. When, however, the turning of the turn stile by analighting passenger moves the gear 16 out of mesh with the gear 15, thebell crank isthrown into position to be engaged by the pin 37. Theopening of the door does not affect the bell crank but the closing ofthe 7 strip be moved by mechanism other than that connected with theturn stile. For this purpose a cord 38' is provided having a grip 39 inconvenient position for engagement by the motorman, the cord passingover direction elements 40. This cord passes into the indicator casing,and is connected with a lever 41, a coil spring 42 being arrangedbetween the lever and the casing wall of said spring encircling the cordand acting to return the lever to normal position when it has been movedby the motorman.

Pawls 43 and 44 are connected with the ends of the lever 41 and thesepawls engage ratchet wheels 45 and-46, respectively on the windingrollers 20 and 23. Each of these ratchet wheels'is loosely journaledonthe shaft of its roller and carries a pawl 47 which engages a ratchetwheel 48 rigid with the'roller. These pawls and ratchets 43-45, 44-46,and 47-48 are oppositely arranged are arranged between the lever nearits pivotal connection and the respectlve'pawls, the

springs acting to hold the pawls in engagement with the ratchet wheels.

Referring to Figs. 3'and 4 it will be seen that the ratchet wheels45-46are similar and similarly arranged, and are moved in the samedirection by the pawls 43-44.

Thus when the lever 40 is vibrated with its top moving toward the leftof Fig. 4, both ratchet wheels would be advanced were both in engagementwith their respective pawls, but one pawl is, however, in engagementwith a ratchet wheel at the same time. Whenever a turn stile is notoperated at a street intersection, the motorman merely draws down on thegrip 39. This wings the lever 41 and advances the rollers a sufiicientdistanceto display a new indication.

In order to provide for a reverse movement of the strip on the returntrip of the car. means is provided for making either roller 20 or 23 thecontrolling roller for. the winding. The said means is shown in Fig. 4.V a

A worm 51 is arranged between the rollers 20 and 28, and this wormmeshes with worm wheels 52 on the shafts of the rollers 20 and 23; Thisworm may mesh with the worm wheel 52 of either roller but cannot meshwith bothworm wheels at the same time. It is secured on a shaft 19before mentioned, and the shaft .19 is journaled in a] as will beevident from an inspection of Fig.

sleeve 53 to which are secured links 54 extending longitudinally of thesleeve. These links are pivoted intermediate their ends as shown at 6,so that the shaft and sleeve may swing on the pivots far enough toengage the worm with either worm wheel. The shaft is swung bymeans of alink 57, which is connected at its upper end to the sleeve, and extendsat its lower end through an opening in the underside of the casing 12,where it has a head for convenience in manipulating the same. The linkhas teeth 58 which are adapted to engage the edge of the opening in thecasing 12, through which the link extends, to lock the link and theshaft in adjusted position. A bar 59 is mounted to slide vertically inguides 60 in the casing 12, and the ends of this bar are in. position toalternately engage the pawls 4344. This bar 59 is connected to thesleeve 53 in which the shaft 19 is journaled by the links and it will beevident that when the worm is engaged with either worm wheel the bar 59will be moved in the opposite direction.

lVhen the worm is engaged with the worm wheel 52 of the roller 20 thestrip will be moved in one direction, while when the worm is engagedwith the worm wheel of the roller 23 it will be obvious that the stripwill be moved in the opposite direct-ion. Thus by means of the link 57the movement of the strip may be reversed at the end of each trip; thatis, either roller 20 or 23 may be the controlling or active roller forthe winding, the other roller being the passive roller. When eitherroller 20 or is connected with the driving mechanism, that is, with theworm 51, the connection of the worm with the roller disengages the pawl43 or 44 as the case may be, from the other roller, so that the grip 39will only actuate the controlling or active roller and not the passiveroller. As for instance, when the worm 51 is engaged with the worm wheel52 of the roller 20, the pawl 44 will be disengaged from the roller 23.hen now the grip 39. is thrown downward only the pawl 43 will beoperated, the pawl 44 being out of engaging position.

The operation of the device is as follows: On the out, trip forinstance, the link 57 wvill be moved, so that the lowermost notch 58will engage with the edge of the opening in the casing 12. The worm 51is now engaged with the worm wheel of the roller 20. lVhenever apassenger departs by way of the turn stile, the shaft 20 will be rotateda snificient distance to move one indication from display position, andanother indication into display position. At the end of the movement ofthe turn stile sufficient to supply a new indication, the pin 32 comesinto play, moving the shaft 17 longitudinally and disengagingthe gears15 and 16.

This movementor disengagement places the bell crank 33 in position to beengaged by the pin 37. Now several passengers may pass out by way of theturn stile, without affecting the winding rollers. When the motormancloses the door, the gear 16 will be restored into mesh with the gear 15and the device will be again ready to operate. If no passengers alightat an intersection, the motorman will pull down on the grip 39, thusadvancing the controlling roller a sufiicient distance to display a newindication.

In Figure 6 there is shown mechanism for engaging and disengaging thegears 15 and 16 on open end cars, that is cars without doors to beopened and closed on stopping and starting. This mechanism takes theplace of that shown at the right of Figure 5.

Vith this arrangement a lever 60 is pivoted to the front wall of the caras indicated at 61, and the rear end of the lever has a rotatableconnection with the shaft 17. lVhen the turn stile has disengaged thegear 16 from the gear 15 through the pin 32, the lever 60 will restorethe shaft 17 to normal position, through the movement of the controllerlever indicated at 62, in turning on the current to start the car. Ashaft 63 is journaled in bearings on the car wall adjacent to thecontroller box 64, and this shaft has an arm at its upper end which isconnected by alink 65 with the lever 60 before mentioned. At its lowerend the shaft 63 has an arm 66 which extends into position to be engagedwith the controller lever, when it is swung to turn on the current. Withthis arrangement, when the motornian turns on the current to start thecar, the lever 60 will be operated to a-estore the shaft 17 to aposition such that the gears 15 and 16 will engage, to permit the turnstile to operate the annunicator.

I claim 1. In combination with a car having manually operated doorcontrolling means, and a turn stile to be operated by departingpassengers, of a pair of winding rollers, means operable at will forconnecting either winding roller to the turn stile to. cause the rollerto be turned by the turning of the stile, a strip bearing announcementssupported by the winding rollers, display rollers for presenting aportion of the strip in display position, means for tensioning the stripbetween the winding rollers, means controlled by the turning of the turnstile beyond a predetermined point for releasing the turn stile from thewinding rollers, means controlled by the closing of the doors of thecarfor restoring ing roller to the turn stile to cause the roller.

to be turned by the turning of the stile, a strip bearing announcementssupported by the winding rollers, display rollers for presenting aportion of the strip in display position, means for tensioning the stripbetween the winding rollers, means controlled by the turning of the turnstile beyond a predetermined point for releasing the turn stile 7 fromthe winding rollers, means controlled b the closin of the doors of thecar for restoring the connection between the windingrollers and the turnstile, and manu- V ally controlled means for controlling the windingrollers. V

3. In combination with a car having manually operated door controllingmeans, and a turn stile to be operated by departing passengers, of apair of winding rollers, means operable at will for connecting eitherwinding roller to the turn stile to cause the roller to be turned by theturning of the. stile, a strip bearing announcements supported by thewinding rollers, display rollers for presenting a portion of the stripin display position, means for tensioning the strip betweenthe windingrollers, means controlled by the turning of the turn stile beyond apredetermined point for releasing the turn stile from the windingrollers, and means controlled by the closing of the doors of the car forrestoring the connection between the winding rollers and the turnSll1l.'

4c. In combination with a car having man- I ually operated doorcontrolling means, and

a turn stile to be operated by departingpassengers, of a pair of windingrollers, means operable at will for connecting either winding roller tothe turn stile to'cause the roller to be turned by the turning of thestile, a strip bearing announcements supported by the winding rollers,display rollers for presenting a portion of the strip in displayposition, means for tensioning the strip between the Winding rollers,and means controlled by the turning of the turn stile beyond apredetermined point for releasing the turn stile from the windingrollers.

5. In combination with a car having manually operated door controllingmeans, and a turn stile to be operated by departing passengers, of anannunciator for indicating the street intersections, means controlled bythe turning of the slide for operating the annunciator, means controlledby the turning of the stile beyond a predetermined point for releasingthe annunciator from the stile, and

means controlled by; the door controlling ually operated doorcontrolling means, and

a turn stile to be operated by departing passengers, of an annunciatorfor indicating the street intersections, means controlled by'the turningof the stile for operating the annunciator, and means controlled by theturning of the stile beyonda predetermined point for releasing theannunciator from the stile.

7 In combination with a car having a turn stile operated by departingpassengers to register fares, of an annunciator for indicating street"intersections, means controlled-by the turning of the stile foroperating the annunciator,,means controlled by the turning of the stilebeyond a predetermined angle for releasing the turn stile from theannunciator,and manually operated means for restoring the connection.

8. In combination with a car having a turn stile operated by departingpassengers to register fares, of an annunciator for indicating streetintersections, means controlled by the turning of the stile toroperating the annunciator, and means controlled by turning of the stilebeyond a predetermined angle for releasing the turn stile from theannunciator.

9. In combination'with a car having a turn stile operated by departingpassengers to register fares, of an annunciator for indicating streetintersections, means controlled by the turning'of the stile foroperating the annunciator, means controlled by the turning of the stilebeyond a predetermined angle for releasing the turn stile from theannunciator, and manually controlled means for reversing the connectionbetween the annunciator and the turn stile.

10. In combination with a car having a turn stile operated by departingpassengers to register fares, of an annunciator for indicating streetintersections, means controlled by the turning of the stile foroperating the annunciator, and means controlled by the turning of thestile beyond a predef termined angle for releasing the turn stile fromthe annunciator. V

11. In combination with a car, of an annunciator for indicating streetintersections,

means normally blocking exit from the car "and adapted to be moved by adeparting pas manually controlled door operating means and a fareregistering controlling means adapted to be moved by a passenger tooperate the same, of an annunciator, a connection between theannunciator and the fare register controlling means for controlling theannunciator, means controlled by the fare register controlling means forreleasing the connection between the register and the an nunciator foreach operation of the annunciator by the register, and means controlledby the closing of the doors for restoring the connection.

13. In combination with a car, of an annunciator for indicating streetintersections, means normally blocking exit from the car adapted to bemoved by a departing passenger, a connection between said means and theannunciator for operating the annunciator, means controlled by theblocking means for releasing the connection between the an nunciator andthe blocking means, and means controlled by the starting of the car forrestoring said connection.

14:. In combination with a car, of an annunciator for indicating streetintersections, means normally blocking exit from the car adapted to bemoved by a departing passenger, a connection between said means and theannunciator for operating the annunciator, means controlled by theblocking means for releasing the connection between the anmunicator andthe blocking means, and means trolling the annunciator, means controlledby the fare register controlling means for releasing the connectionbetween the annunciator and the said fare register controlling means,and means controlled by the starting of the car for restoring the saidconnection.

16. In combination with a car, of an an nunciator carrying a series ofannouncements, means normally blocking the entrance or exit to the carand adapted to be moved by an entering or departing passenger, aconnection between the said means and the annunciator for operating theannunciator to cause the same to display the announcements insuccession, and means controlled by the blocking means for releasing theconnection between the annunciator and the blocking means after theannunciator has been moved far enough to display a new announcement.

JOHN WESLEY POPE.

